Stateline Canberra

Senate Inquiry

Senator Jan McLucas is chair of the Senate Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care. She spoke to Kathleen Hyland.

The Senate Inquiry can be found here:http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/clac_ctte/inst_care/index.htm

For support and information you can contact CLAN (Care Leavers of Australia Network)http://www.clan.org.au(02) 9709 4520 or 0425-204-747

SENATOR JAN MCLUCAS, CHAIR OF INQUIRY: We've received nearly 400 submissions that are public submissions and almost 120 confidential submissions and they come from a range of people. Mostly they come from people who have lived in institutions up until the 70s those stories are by and large really horrific there are a couple that express a less difficult circumstance but I've got to say most of them tell horrible stories, tragic terrible stories.

KATHLEEN HYLAND: Why were they in institutions? What were we thinking?

SENATOR MCLUCAS: That's the extraordinary question. They were there for a range of reasons. The ones that really trouble me are the children of illegitimate marriages who were institutionalised even up until the 50s simply for the dint of the fact that their mother was not married. They were put in institutions and those people feel very wronged, quite rightly feel very wronged because of that. Children were institutionalised because they were troublesome and some terrible stories of children being institutionalised in jails essentially because they were troublesome children. Today we would call them A-D-D children, these kids needed support but we didn't do that we put them in jail. Children who were from families where the mother could not financially support the child and they were institutionalised. Sometimes for seemingly goodwill reasons but then what occurred to those children in the institutions ranges from what I think to be criminal to a reasonable level of care - that's by and large the biggest group, because we didn't have any child support or family support programs those children simply could not be afforded in a family.

KATHLEEN HYLAND: When did it stop? We've heard places like the maximum security institution for girls operated into the 1970s. So this went on until quite recently?

SENATOR MCLUCAS: I think that's the surprising thing that many of us in the community don't know, that this was happening right up until the 1970s and we've also had stories from families that are involved with institutional care now that are outside our terms of reference but we are still I don't think as a community dealing with children who need help in the best possible way.

KATHLEEN HYLAND: The inquiry says it will look at whether any unsafe, improper or unlawful treatment of children occurred in these institutions - but the recurring theme seems to be the lack of love these children experienced. How do you define and acknowledge that?

SENATOR MCLUCAS: It's an unquantifiable thing we all expect that we will grow up in a loved situation and I think that's probably the strongest theme that comes out of the evidence that 'Yes I was hit and Yes and I was abused, but I wasn't loved and no one cuddled me and no one cared for me in a loving and generous way'. And you can't fix that, at all. But you can acknowledge that that was a reality.

KATHLEEN HYLAND: So what can this inquiry hope to achieve?

SENATOR MCLUCAS: What we need to do nationally is firstly focus on the problem and realise the extent of it. We're trying to grapple with the numbers and the number of submissions tells us that it's much larger than I think we understood as a nation. Then we need to put in place systems that will assist these people not only in the short term but in the long term. And then finally we have to ensure that the systems we have in place now, ensure that it doesn't happen again.

KATHLEEN HYLAND: What options are open for the committee to recommend? There's acknowledgement, apology, recompense? Can you talk through those options?

SENATOR MCLUCAS: We haven't made those decisions yet. The committee will report later this year.

KATHLEEN HYLAND: Do you think in some cases, it's enough for people to feel they've been heard and believed?

SENATOR MCLUCAS: Yes, that's a fantastic outcome of the inquiry. Many people came to us saying 'No one's believed me before and it's good for me to be able to sit here and tell you my story'. But yes, there are groups and individuals quite legitimately calling for greater support and compensation and we will certainly be looking at that question in a broader sense to see what we will recommend.

KATHLEEN HYLAND: Have you been affected by some of the stories that you've heard?

SENATOR MCLUCAS: On one of the days I had to leave the hearing. And all of us have been in tears. Some of the stories are so debasing, it's indescribable for someone who's lived in a normal life in Australia, we don't understand these horrific stories and I think many of us don't want to and I can understand that, it's been extremely confronting.

KATHLEEN HYLAND: So will you be pursuing the Government to implement your recommendations once you make them?

SENATOR MCLUCAS: The fact that the six of us have been through this inquiry, the message to those people who have been affected is that you have six people who are committed to helping you through this process. We have been allowed into these people's lives in a very personal way it is now our responsibility to do the right thing by them.